Search

Green tea has been shown to have beneficial effects on many diseases such as cancer, obesity, inflammatory diseases, and neurodegenerative disorders. The major green tea component, epigallocatechin-3-O-gallate (EGCG), has been demonstrated to contribute to these effects through its anti-oxidative and pro-oxidative properties. Furthermore, several lines of evidence have indicated that the binding affinity of EGCG to specific proteins may explain its mechanism of action. This review article aims to reveal how EGCG-protein interactions can explain the mechanism by which green tea/EGCG can exhibit health beneficial effects. We conducted a literature search, using mainly the PubMed database. The results showed that several methods such as dot assays, affinity gel chromatography, surface plasmon resonance, computational docking analyses, and X-ray crystallography have been used for this purpose. These studies have provided evidence to show how EGCG can fit or occupy the position in or near functional sites and induce a conformational change, including a quaternary conformational change in some cases. Active site blocking, steric hindrance by binding of EGCG near an active site or induced conformational change appeared to cause inhibition of enzymatic activity and other biological activities of proteins, which are related to EGCG’s biological oligomer and formation of their toxic aggregates, leading to the prevention of neurodegenerative diseases and amyloidosis. In conclusion, these studies have provided useful information on the action of green tea/catechins and would lead to future studies that will provide further evidence for rational EGCG therapy and use EGCG as a lead compound for drug design.

Green tea has been shown to have beneficial effects against cancer, obesity, atherosclerosis, diabetes, bacterial and viral infections, and dental caries. The catechin (−)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) has shown the highest biological activity among green tea catechins (GTCs) in most of the studies. While several epidemiological studies have shown the beneficial effects of tea and GTCs on obesity, some studies have failed to do this. In addition, a large number of interventional clinical studies have shown these favorable effects, and cellular and animal experiments have supported those findings, and revealed the underlying anti-obesity mechanisms. One of the mechanisms is enhanced cellular production of reactive oxygen species, which is mediated through the pro-oxidant action of EGCG, leading to the activation of adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase, which suppresses gene and protein expression of enzymes and transcription factors involved in adipogenesis and lipogenesis, and stimulates those involved in lipolysis. Recently, scientific evidence supporting the beneficial anti-obesity effects of green tea and GTCs has been increasing. However, future investigations are still required to clarify the reasons for the inconsistent results reported in the human studies; to achieve this, careful adjustment of confounding factors will be required.